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The Young Hornblower Omnibus: "Mr.Midshipman Hornblower", "Lieutenant Hornblower", "Hornblower and the "Hotspur""
 
 
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The Young Hornblower Omnibus: "Mr.Midshipman Hornblower", "Lieutenant Hornblower", "Hornblower and the "Hotspur"" [Paperback]

C S Forester
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
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The Young Hornblower Omnibus: "Mr.Midshipman Hornblower", "Lieutenant Hornblower", "Hornblower and the "Hotspur"" + Captain Hornblower R.N.: Hornblower and the 'Atropos', The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line + Admiral Hornblower: Flying Colours, The Commodore, Lord Hornblower, Hornblower in the West Indies
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Product details

  • Paperback: 640 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; Film & TV Tie-in Ed edition (24 Sep 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140271732
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140271737
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 3.8 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 7,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

C. S. Forester
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Product Description

Product Description

The Young Hornblower - a truly formidable force in His Majesty's Service

The seventeen-year-old Hornblower became notorious as soon as he stepped on board ship - as the midshipman who was seasick in Spithead. But he was soon to gain his sea legs.

Amid battle, action and adventure he proves himself time and time again - courageous in danger, resourceful in moments of difficulty and decisive in times of trouble. The reader stands right beside him as he prepares to fight his first duel, feels the heat as he battles to control a blazing ship and shares his horror as he experiences for the first time the panic of the Plague.

This omnibus edition contains:

Mr Midshipman Hornblower Lieutenant Hornblower Hornblower and the 'Hotspur'

About the Author

C. S. Forester was born in Cairo in 1899, where his father was stationed as a government official. He studied medicine at Guy's Hospital and, after leaving Guy's without a degree, he turned to writing as a career.

His first success was Payment Deferred, a novel written at the age of twenty-four and later dramatized and filmed with Charles Laughton in the leading role. In 1932 Forester was offered a Hollywood contract, and from then until 1939 he spent thirteen weeks of every year in America.

On the outbreak of war he entered the Ministry of Information and later he sailed with the Royal Navy to collect the material for The Ship. He made a voyage to the Bering Sea to gather material for a similar book on the United States Navy, and it was during this trip that he was stricken with arteriosclerosis, a disease which left him crippled. However, he continued to write and in the Hornblower novels created the most renowned sailor in contemporary fiction. He died in 1966.


Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
A January gale was roaring up the Channel, blustering loudly, and bearing in its bosom rain squalls whose big drops rattled loudly on the tarpaulin clothing of those among the officers and men whose duties kept them on deck. Read the first page
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower is the prequel to the Horatio Hornblower series. Written as the sixth book chronologically, it covers the very first times when Hornblower served in His Majesty's navy. My recommendation is that you read it first, so that you can follow Hornblower chronologically along over his career as it develops.

Since much of service aboard a naval vessel is routine, C.S. Forester gives us the high spots of Hornblower's first years in the form of short stories beginning at age 17 when he entered the navy.

Each story is nicely balanced among the following qualities: Hornblower's inexperience; the rapid shift of circumstances that can occur at sea; Hornblower's physical and psychological weaknesses and courage to overcome them; the demands of honor; the importance of thinking clearly, getting good information, and making a swift decision; the benefits of discipline; and the brotherhood of all seaman before the dangers they face.

Those who are interested in the war between Britain and France after the French Revolution in 1789 will find the material to bring those events to life in a vivid way. I learned a lot about the details of naval warfare as it was conducted then.

The weakness of most short story writers is that their plots and resolutions often become overly predictable. These short stories are predictable only in their originality and unpredictability. As such, I found myself drawn forward, wondering what rabbit Forester would next pull out of the hat.

This is just the sort of book that I loved to read as a teenager, and I could feel the years peeling off as I raced through the stories. This book would be a wonderful gift to a teenager who likes adventure tales based on historical events. Readers will be reminded of how embarrassing and emotionally daunting it can be to launch off to operate in the adult world at age 17.

Unlike many adventure books, Hornblower serves the dual role of hero and morally-inspired man. It's too bad that so much modern fiction chooses to develop the action without developing any character in the process.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Worth reading every 10 years or so to remind us what a truly entertaining author CSF was. As good a command of the english language as Conrad, CSF takes us through a man's glorious naval career, occasionally tinged with tragedy but never dull. The ideal introduction to an examination of the Napoleonic era which has spawned so many good books by inspired authors...
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Hornblower and the Hotspur is just the sort of book to inspire youngsters to want to do the right thing. The temptations of doing the wrong thing, of looking the other way, or of chasing the golden fleece are all present. You see Commander Hornblower dealing with these temptations, and enjoying the rewards and pains of pursuing the right course. Also, he is often rewarded for taking the time to do his homework (such as his never-ending charting of the coastal inlets in Brittany). Few modern novels create some upright and forthright heroes for young people to model themselves after.
Older fans of C.S. Forester and the Hornblower series will also be rewarded by the fascinating details of how a small sloop can successfully challenge all comers! If you are a sailor or have some interest in the subject, you will be richly rewarded by the many fine details that Mr. Forester provides about the special challenges of storms, the European coast, and running a long-term blockade of Europe after the Peace of Amiens breaks down in 1803.

Those who have been waiting for Hornblower to "get a life" will be pleased to see that his attachments to shore, family, and to those nearest to him increase greatly in this book. As a result, he has to think about the consequences more carefully as he faces death . . . and what will happen to others if he fails.

In a fascinating series of "almost asides" Hornblower has great problems with his personal servants in this novel. These scenes help establish Hornblower's lack of priority for personal comfort, and the vulnerability that can be created for you if those close to you fail to do their duties.

To me, the most rewarding part of the book came in the many sections that explored what it means to be courageous. Hornblower certainly doesn't see himself that way. In fact, in some cases he merely sees himself as having noticed the problem and having acted faster than others. In other cases, his physical weaknesses (including a propensity to seasickness) make his duty difficult. He gives himself no credit for soldiering on under the circumstances, but rather feels inferior for his vulnerability. An unfortunate incident leaves him in a quandary about whether to do his duty "by the book" or to deal with the situation with compassion. The message seems to be that courage is overcoming your obstacles and limitations, regardless of the price, but is not something that one should rejoice in. The term "stiff upper lip" kept coming to mind as I read this novel.

The ultimate appeal of Hornblower is that he is a slightly brighter, more determined version of "everyone" out there who ever wanted to do the right thing, make a way in the world, and build a rewarding life. His weaknesses, foibles, and doubts simply serve to make his concerns and himself real to all of us who read about him . . . and secretly yearn to keep the French bottled up in Brest by our outstanding seamanship.

If the Star Trek holodecks were really available, I'd like to create a program to be Hornblower on the Hotspur (as long as I didn't have to suffer too much from seasickness). I would certainly want to have the trustworthy Mr. Bush (from the novel) along side me.

After you finish the book, I suggest that you think of Hornblower's experiences as a metaphor for making the right choices in a career and personal life. What challenges have you found that are similar to those that Hornblower dealt with in this book? How do you think that Hornblower would have responded to these challenges? What can you learn from these "thought experiments" that could help you in the future?

When choosing among life's routes, be sure to consider the stern, rocky paths for the rewarding challenges they provide!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Young Hornblower
This book is a must for all those who need to immerse themselves in tales of daring and excitement. It's still as good as it was55 years ago!
Published 29 days ago by Roberto
Hornblower's early days
A good introduction to Hornblower, just enough to get the reader hooked. The only niggle with this Kindle edition is that the ebook doesn't come with an index or list of chapters... Read more
Published 1 month ago by whc
Absolutely super
Horatio Hornblower's naval career from midshipman to captain during the Napoleonic Wars, written from his perspective and that of his sturdy friend Lieutenant William Bush. Read more
Published 2 months ago by JoTownhead
An excellent read
The Hornblower Series are all a good holiday read and one that boys and their Dads will all enjoy. If reading for the first time, please, start when he was a lad and you can then... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. K. W. Taylor
Superb Historical Fiction
The Hornblower books of CS Forester set the standard by which all historical fiction has to be judged. Read more
Published 22 months ago by R. J. Richardson
GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS
As a long term C S Forrester fan, I can recommend this book, had'nt read it for a few years, but did watch the excellent series with Ioan Gruffud perfectly cast as Horatio... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by Mrs. P. Robinson
Hornblower
I'm an avid reader of "military and navy historical fictions" and may not be so impartial thogh I have no doubts about C.S. Forester. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Castelli Paolo Emilio
One of the best in its genre
I read the Hornblower-novels after I had read all Aubrey & Maturin-novels by Patrick O'Brian and to me the latter are better still, but that doesn't alter the fact that all 3... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2007 by Didier
Action packed all the way!!
It doesn't matter if you're a round the world yaghtsman or an office worker from Croyden, you will love this book! Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2005 by "mblanc06"
The Evolution of Moral Character
Hornblower and the Hotspur is just the sort of book to inspire youngsters to want to do the right thing. Read more
Published on 3 July 2004 by Donald Mitchell
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